'Call' overperforms, while 'Wonderstone' fizzles

While Disney’s “Oz the Great and Powerful” won the weekend with a better-than-expected $42.2 million, down 47%, the frame’s specialty winner — Harmony Korine’s “Spring Breakers,” from distrib A24 — scored the best-ever opening per-screen average for this time, with $90,000 from three locations.

The limited release caught fire with auds in New York and L.A., selling out screenings for a total estimated $270,000. The film’s per-screen ranks better than the opening averages of “Lincoln” and “Zero Dark Thirty,” and just behind “The Tree of Life,” which launched summer 2011.

“We always felt this was a really great time to release the film because of spring break and counterprogramming,” said A24 publicity exec Nicolette Aizenberg. “I went to the Arclight Hollywood this weekend and the mood was incredible.”

Meanwhile, “Oz,” which reached $145 million domestically and $282 million worldwide in two weeks, benefited from an overall quiet weekend for wide releases: Sony-TriStar’s “The Call” overperformed with $17.1 million, while Warner Bros.-New Line’s misguided laffer “The Incredible Burt Wonderstone” was unable to conjure much box office love, grossing just $10.3 million through Sunday.

Domestic year-over-year totals stayed in line with 2012, when Sony’s “21 Jump Street” overperformed with a $36 million opening.

Not surprisingly, “Oz” held on to international bragging rights, grossing an estimated $46.6 million from 55 territories, which represents 85% of the market. Disney expanded the film to nine markets this weekend, including France. Pic bows March 29 in China.

Fox’s “A Good Day to Die Hard” opened solidly on the mainland with $15.7 million, pushing the film past $200 million internationally.

Another specialty V.I.P., concert docu “Mindless Behavior: All Around the World,” from producer/financier Brian Robbins, scored a hearty $4,351 per-screen average. Produced by YouTube channel AwesomenessTV, “Mindless” launched exclusively at 117 AMC theaters, with plans to expand within the circuit next weekend.